Powder-compressing machines



July 5, 1960 K. BRIERLEY POWDER-COMPRESSING MACHINES Filed July 3, 1957IN VENTOR KENNETH BRIERLEY ATTORNEYS United S ates Patent 2,94s,s's1rownnn coMrnn'ssmo MACHINE KennethBrierley, 104 Wilbury. Road,Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England.

Filed July 3, 1957, Ser. No. 669,8 9

2 Claims. (c1. m n

lever 20 pivoted on a bracket 21 on the mounting 17,

the other end of the lever 20 being-coupled to a wire 22 the inner wire22 is reciprocated, the shaft 14 will be moved up and down withinlimits, and each time the shaft 14 is lowered it engages the clutch 9d,Sic and.

forming the inner of a flexible control cable of the wellknown kindcommonly known as Bowden cable. An outer sheath 23 for the cable isseated in a shouldered bore in the upper arm 7. The inner wire 22 of thecable is connected to any suitable device (not shown);

capable of imparting to it a reciprocating motion of suitable amplitude;this could be provided for example by a simple edge-cam driven atsuitable speed from a main drive shaft for the machine. It will beapparent that as depresses the shaft 10 against its spring 9a, therebymoving the fingers 11, 12, 13 from their upper position, shown in brokenline, to their lower position as illustrated in full line. In the upperposition the bottom ends of the fingers 11, 12, 13 are raised justwithin the lower end of the hopper 8. In the lowered position they pro-7 trude a short distance below the open end of the hopper. Immediatelybelow the lower arm 6 is positioned a rotatable platform or table 24,the rotation of which brings, step by step, each one of a series ofchambers 25 into l ne with the lower end opening of the hopper 8. The

- platform is driven by any suitable intermittent drive capable of beingmoved into and withdrawn from the receptacle so as to permitagitatior'i' 'of the material while in the receptacle; Advantageouslythe agitator is arranged to be positionedwholly withinthe supply pipe orhopper when not engaged into the receptacle.

The means for positioning a receptacle below the hopper may comprise amovable platform having a number of chambers which are brought in turnopposite the outlet of the supply pipe or hopper, the platform being aclose sliding fit against the outlet so as to seal the outlet betweenthe movement away of one chamber and the movement into position ofanother chamber.

Preferably the agitator is capable of rotation in the supply pipe orhopper, for agitation purposes, and also of axial sliding for thepurpose of moving into and out of the receptacle. By way of example, theagitator may be provided with clutch means so as to be caused to rotateonly when moved into position within the receptacle. The agitator mayconveniently be springurged into the receptacle.

In order that the nature ofthe invention may be more readily understood,an embodiment of hopper and agitator in accordance therewith ishereinafter particularly described with reference to the accompanyingdrawing, which is a central vertical section.

In this drawing, a machine frame 1 supports a stationary coluirm 2serving as a mounting for two bushings 3, 4.

means -(not shown) the construction and operation of which will heobviously to those skilled in the art of me- The two bushings arearranged one at each end of a rotatable tube 5 and two horizontalsupport arms 6, 7 are secured one at each end of the tube, the armsbeing capable of swinging round in "a horizontal plane; The lower arm 6is apertured at its other end to serve as a seating for the lowernarrower end of a conical hopper 8 the lower end of which is flush withthe lower surface of the arm 6. The upper arm 7 is apertured at itsother end to receive a bearing sleeve 9 in which is rotatableand axiallyslidable a shaft 10 carrying at its lower part three agitator fingers11, 12, 13. The shaft 10 is urged upwardly by a compression spring 9aacting between a fixed bushing 9b and a clutch plate 9c abutting axiallyagainst another clutch plate 9d carried on a shaft 14 mounted in bearing15 and keyed to receive rotary drive from a pulley 16 disposed in a gapin a bearing block 17 supported on the upper arm 7.v The upper end 1'4of shaft '10 has a double flange device 18 in the channel a of which isarranged a pin 19 secured at one end of a cham'cal driving devices andwhich need not be described in detail. The timing of the apparatus as awhole is such that each time a chamber 25 comes into position below thehopper 8, the wire 22 is slackened to allow a compression spring 26,acting between a bracket 27 on the mounting '17 and the lever 20, topush the pin 19 downwardly and lower the shafts 14, so that the clutchis engaged and the fingers 11, 12, 13 pass down into the loweredposition shown in full line, in which position they are Within theaperture 25. The fingers 11, '12, 13 constitute together an agitatorwhich is drivenin rotation by a belt 28 engaged on the pulley 16 and ona driving pulley 2h secured at the upper end of an inner driving shaft30 carried by a bearing 31 in the column 2. Any suitable driving unit(not shown) is coupled to the lower end of the shaft 30 for continuousrotation at relatively slow speed.

The device shown is part of an apparatus for the compression of cosmeticpowder into shallow metal containers, the operation being as follows. Inthe chamber 25 is arranged a vertically slidable compression plunger 32moved upwardly, at predetermined intervals, by a high pressure hydraulicram device (not shown) connected to its stem 33 and situated generallybelow the frame 1 and table 2 4. As the table 24-,revolves in astep-by-step motion, a shallow metal receptacle 34 is inserted into thechamber 25 by hand or by any suitable automatic dispenser, and is seatedon the plunger 32. When the chamber comes into position below thehopper, loose powdered material in the hopper 8 falls by gravity intothe upper part of the chamber 25 and onto the receptacle 34. At the sametime the agitator fingers 11, 12, 13, descend into their loweredposition and stir the powdered material within the chamber 25itself,ithereby ensuring that the powdered material completely fills thechamber, that its consistency is substantially homogeneous, and that noair spaces are inadvertently left in the powder contained in theaperture 25. After a short period of such filling and stirring, theagitator fingers 11, 12, 13 are raised again, by pulling operation ofthe wire 22, moving the shaft 14 upwardly and releasing the clutch,whereafter the rotatable platform or table 24 moves a further portion ofa turn to bring the filled chamber 25 beneath a pressure stop (notshown), in which position the PatentedJuly-5, 1960 plunger 32 is forcedupwardly to compress the powdered material against the pressure stop andmould it into the form of a shallow cake in the receptacle 34. Theplatform 24 is a close sliding fit beneath the hopper 8 and thus closesthe latter off during rotation, preventing powdered material fromescaping until such time as the next chamber 25 comes into positionbelow the hopper.

I claim:

1. In a machine for compressing measured quantities of cosmetic powderinto a cake, a machine frame, a gravity feed hopper thereon to contain abulk supply of the powder in freely flowing state, said hopper having anoutlet opening at its lower end, a platform mounted on the frame andslidably movable across the outlet opening of the hopper and havingportions of its upper surface serving as a closure for said opening,said platform having a plurality of chambers opening at its upper facebetween said portions to receive receptacles to be filled, said chambersbeing positioned so as to be brought selectively into alignment with thehopper outlet thereby to cause the selected chamber to be gravity-filledwith powder from the hopper, a plurality of agitator fingers, and meansmounting said fingers'on the frame so as to be spaced radially from androtatable about an axis coincident with the axis of the selected chamberand so as to be movable vertically between a raised and inoperativeposition in which they lie within the hopper above the upper surface ofthe platform, and a lowered and operative position in which they liewithin and describe circles within the powder contained in the selectedchamber, for the purpose of agitating and stirring said powder while thechamber is still in free communication with the bulk supply in thehopper.

2. In a machine for compressing measured quantities of cosmetic powderinto a cake, a machine frame, a

gravity feed hopper thereon to contain a bulk supply of the powder infreely flowing state, said hopper having an outlet opening at its lowerend, a platform mounted on the frame and slidably movable across theoutlet opening of the hopper and having portions of its upper surfaceserving as a closure for said opening, said platform having a pluralityof chambers opening at its upper surface between said portions toreceive receptacles to be filled, said chambers being positioned so asto be brought selectively into alignment with the hopper outlet therebyto cause the selected chamber to be gravity-filled with powder from thehopper, a plurality of agitator fingers, means mounting said fingers onthe machine frame above the hopper so' as to be spaced radially from androtatable about an axis coincident with the axis of the selectedchamber, and so as to be vertically shiftable, said fingers dependingthrough the entire height of the hopper and being of such length thattheir lower ends are movable between a raised inoperative position inwhich said ends lie within the hopper above the upper surface of theplatform, and a lowered and operative position in which said ends liewithin and describe circles within the powder contained in the selectedchamber, whereby the contents of the hopper are agitated and the powdercontained in the selected chamber is also agitated while the chamber isin free communication with the bulk supply in the hopper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

